Heaven and Hell. Retrieved from Hilles (2024):
Recently, we discovered that the "God" of the
Bible and Satan/Devil were the same person. This leads us to the topic of this current post: Do Heaven and Hell exist? Surprisingly, Heaven is easier to explain than Hell but we shall discuss both topics here.
Links:
Heaven and Hell. Retrieved from Hilles (2024):
https://images.app.goo.gl/J8BiWZuzoWfoRV53AHilles (2024):
https://www.bcworldview.org/hell-will-be-hell-and-heaven-will-be-heven/1.) Does Heaven Exist?
Clouds obscure a gate (Getty Images) from Almond (2018):
Let's discuss Heaven first. We all tend to think that Heaven is another world, or dimension, outside of ours. Actually, I've heard people discuss it as a place in outer space. Anyway, Heaven is suppose to be the home of the god of the
Bible, Ieue/Ea/Zeus, and his son Jesus Christ. However, when you look for Heaven in the
Bible, things get complicated. In the
Tanakh/Old Testament, Heaven is called Shmin (pronounced "Sh-min")/Shamayin or Samayin. However, this just means Earth's sky (Genesis 1:8 [NASB] [Interlinear]) (
Bible Hub, Strong's Hebrew: 8064. Shamayin). It also seems to mean "the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve," (
Bible Hub, Strong's Hebrew: 8064. Shamayin, Lexical Summary). This seems to be space, if you ask me. The heavenly bodies are the planets (Mackenzie, 1915, p. 304), and their astrological symbols (Cook, 1914, Vol. 1 p. 235 note 2). So far, Heaven is a place on Earth or surrounding Earth: The sky and space. It's not another dimension, or a place beyond space. In fact, Shmin is a deity. He is called Baal Samen (or Shamayin)-Anum-Adad in the Middle East, and Dyeus (Uranus-Zeus) in Eurasia. In the
New Testament, Ouranos/Ouranois (Uranus) is the word for Heaven. Uranus is a god, and the original form of Zeus/Dyeus. I talked about this in my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled" post. Heaven is the sky, space, and a god.
There is another aspect of Heaven that we have to discuss. There are multiple levels of Heaven, and they are the sun, moon, and the planets. This goes back to astrology. There are seven Heavens, and each of them have a corresponding planet and angel:
1.) First Heaven: Moon and Archangel Gabriel.
2.) Second Heaven: Venus and Archangel Anael.
3.) Third Heaven: Mercury and Archangel Raphael.
4.) Fourth Heaven: Sun and Archangel Michael.
5.) Fifth Heaven: Mars and Archangel Samael/Azrael.
6.) Sixth Heaven: Jupiter and Archangel Sachiel/Asariel.
7.) Seventh Heaven: Saturn and Archangel Cassiel/Uriel.
These are the celestial bodies. The god of the Abrahamic religions is represented by each of the planets, sun, and moon. Therefore, each of these seven planets and archangels are different aspects of the deity itself. Check my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled," and "My List of Gods and Goddesses" posts for more information.
We also have to talk about Abraham real quick. In Luke 16, Jesus talks about the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. When Lazarus died, he "was carried by the angels to Abraham's arms." The Rich Man went to Hades when he died (Luke 16:19-23 [NASB]). In the King James Version, Hades is called Hell. According to Rev. Taylor (1884), Abraham is Saturn in the parable (pp. 172-173). This means that Lazarus ascended to the seventh Heaven/planet Saturn when he died. He didn't go to another universe, or beyond space.
There is a place like Heaven in the Greek religion. This place is called Elysium, also called the "Elysian Plain" and "Isles of the Blessed." This is a "paradise to which heroes on whom the gods conferred immortality were sent." Homer called it the "Elysian Plain," and said that it was located "at the end of the Earth, on the banks of the Oceanus." Hesiod called it the "Isles of the Blessed," and "By the time of Hesiod, however, Elysium was a place for the blessed dead, and, from Pindar on, entrance was gained by a righteous life." Elysium was edited to be a part of Hades. An example of this is in Virgil's book "Aeneid, Book VI" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Elysium). This sounds a lot like the Christian Heaven, aside from the locations. "God's" chosen people go to Heaven/Elysium, while those he disdains go to Hell/Hades.
In summation, Heaven is not another universe, or beyond space. It was Earth's sky, and space itself. It was personified as a deity. The planets, sun, and moon represented seven different levels of Heaven. They were called celestial bodies, and were different personifications of the deity. I guess Heaven really is a place on Earth... Literally.
Links:
Almond (2018):
https://www.newsweek.com/heaven-afterlife-christianity-islam-judaism-966354
Clouds obscure a gate (Getty Images):
https://images.app.goo.gl/Zv69HPZuxfNruV6i6
Genesis 1:
-NASB:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/genesis/1.htm
-Genesis 1:8 (Interlinear):
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/1-8.htm
Bible Hub. Strong's Hebrew: 8064. Shamayin:
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8064.htm
Mackenzie (1915) (P. 304):
https://books.google.com/books?id=HTrXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA529&dq=Ea+Dagon&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjU2Y3VnPKFAxV6EFkFHbvSBfwQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=Ea%20Dagon&f=false
Cook (1914) (Vol. 1 p. 235 note 2):
https://books.google.com/books/about/Zeus.html?id=9e9gpRpZWCYC&printsec=frontcover&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_entity&hl=en&gl=US&ovdme=1#v=onepage&q=Iaw%20&f=false
Luke 16:
-NASB:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/luke/16.htm
-KJV:
https://biblehub.com/kjv/luke/16.htm
Rev. Taylor (1884) (PP. 172-173):
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Devil_s_Pulpit.html?id=0mYWcpMPtLkC&printsec=frontcover&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_entity&hl=en&gl=US#v=onepage&q=%20Saturn&f=false
The Demonic Deity Unveiled:
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2022/10/was-yhwh-yahwehjehovah-angel.html
My List of Gods and Goddesses:
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2024/12/my-list-of-gods-and-goddesses.html
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Elysium:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Elysium-Greek-mythology
2.) Does Hell Exist?
The Hell from The Evil Fandom Wiki, Hell (theology):
Now we must wonder if Hell exists. I think this is the more interesting question since people, mainly Christians I'd believe, are concerned night and day about whether or not they're going to go to Hell. Honestly, I was extremely concerned about this as well. However, since Heaven isn't the afterlife, is Hell part of the afterlife? You can't have Hell without Heaven. Well... It turns out that Hell is the original afterlife in the
Bible. Actually, we shouldn't even call it Hell.
The Jewish word for "Hades or the world of the dead" is called Sheol (actually spelled "Sh'ul"/"Shaul"). It is also translated as "grave, hell, pit" (Bible Hub, Strong's Hebrew: 7585. Sheol). The best scene in the Tanakh/Old Testament that concerns Sh'ul is in 1 Samuel 28. King Saul goes to a female medium to talk to the spirit of Samuel. The medium conjures up Samuel who came "'up from the earth.'" Interestingly, a "'divine being'" also came up. What's also important to note is what Samuel's spirit said to Saul: Saul and his sons will die and join Samuel in the afterlife (1 Samuel 28:3, 7-15, 19-20). Now, Saul is said to have disappointed Ieue/Ea (1 Samuel 15:10 and 35), so wouldn't that mean that Ieue/Ea sent Saul to Hell and Samuel would've gone to Heaven?Apparently not. Everybody goes to Sh'ul, and it's stated clearly in the Tanakh/Old Testament. Not only that, but Sh'ul seems to be the underworld. This is also stated in Job 7:9 where "Sheol" (Sh'ul) is a place you go "down to," and do "not come up" from. This brings us to Hades, which is the Greek underworld ruled by the god Hades. Hades is where "the infernal powers and [...] the dead" reside. Hades did watch over "the trial and punishment of the wicked after death," he wasn't "one of the judges in the underworld." The punishment of evil doers was inflicted by "the Furies (Erinyes)." Interestingly, there is another level of the underworld below Hades. It's called Tartarus, and it's where evil people are punished. Albeit, it "became almost a synonym for Hades." Hades is also Sheol "In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible." It was a "dark region of the dead," (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hades). So, Hades was the first layer of the afterlife and Tartarus was the second layer of the afterlife where evil people were punished. Hades is the Greek translation of Sh'ul, which means that everyone goes to Sh'ul when they die. This matches what is stated in the Tanakh/Old Testament.
In the New Testament, Hell is Hades. This is seen in the the NASB, and KJV, translations of the Rich Man and Lazarus parable in Luke 16:19-31. In the parables, the Rich Man is being tormented and burned in Hades (Luke 16:23-24). Hades is filled with "infernal powers" in the Greek version. Evil people also seem to be punished in Hades, and Tartarus, in the Greek version as well (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hades, para. 2 and 4). Tartarus is also in the New Testament, and it is translated as Hell as well. In 2 Peter 2:4, Ieue/Ea sent disobedient angels to Hell to await judgement. This is the NASB translation. However, note a in the NASB translation said that Hell in this passage is Tartarus. The Berean Literal Bible, and Interlinear, translations said that Hell in this passage is Tartarus too (2 Peter 2:4 [NASB] [BLB] [Interlinear]) (Bible Hub, Strong’s Hebrew: 5020. tartaroo). Hell in the New Testament is the Hades of the Greek religion, just like in the Tanakh/Old Testament. The difference in the New Testament is that good people go to Heaven, a.k.a the sky/space/planets. As stated previously, Lazarus in Luke 16 went up to Abraham. Abraham is the planet Saturn/seventh Heaven. Jesus said that he is going to sit on the right hand of God, and he does that later on. This is the Archangel Michael's position, and some Christians have equated Jesus to Michael before. See my "Was Jesus Christ real?" post for more information on that. This means that Jesus ascended to the fourth Heaven/sun, from what I can tell.
There is one more word that is translated into Hell that we have to examine. In Matthew 5:29, the word for Hell in the Beatitudes is Gehenna. This is in notes m, t, and w for the NASB translation (Matthew 5:22, and 29-30). Gehenna is the Greek translation of "Ge Hinnom, meaning 'valley of Hinnom.'" This was a literal "valley west and south of Jerusalem where children were burned as sacrifices to the Ammonite god Molech." It was later turned into a "garbage center to discourage a reintroduction of such sacrifices." Gehenna then served as "imagery of the burning of humans" and "the concept of 'hellfire' to Jewish and Christian eschatology," (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Gehenna). This valley, called "Ben-hinnom," and the sacrifices to Molech, are mentioned in Jeremiah 32:35. As we already know, Molech is a title for the god of the Bible and not the name of another god. The human sacrifices were made to Ieue/Ea-'l/Enlil, not a rival god. See my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled" post. Ben hinnom/Gehenna is a literal place on Earth, not Hell. At the very least, it's a metaphor.
So, what is Hell? It's the underworld, and everyone goes there. Heck, from what I've seen, Hell isn't the proper name. It's Sh'ul in Jewish, and Hades in Greek. Evil people, and divine beings, do get tortured there and in Tartarus. Ben hinnom/Gehenna is not Sh'ul/Hades or Hell, but a physical place on Earth.
Where did this belief of the underworld come from? I would venture to guess that, since people are buried into the Earth (usually), it would make sense that our ancestors believed that the afterlife was the underworld. Some support for my idea comes, once again, from the Greek religion. Some caves were thought to have been entrances into Hades (Schumacher, 2002; in Marinatos and Hagg, 2002, p. 59). In the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus physically goes to Hades to bring back the deceased Eurydice. There is an "opening into the land of the living" in Hades. It allows physical people to leave (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Orpheus, para. 3). This sounds like a cave, if you ask me. At the very least, it's a physical hole of some kind. Hades/Hell is inside the planet Earth!
Links:
The Evil Fandom Wiki. Hell (theology):
https://evil.fandom.com/wiki/Hell_(theology)
The Hell from The Evil Fandom Wiki. Hell (theology):
https://images.app.goo.gl/d94sH8dobCMZpYvv5
Bible Hub. Strong's Hebrew: 7585. Sheol:
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7585.htm
1 Samuel 28:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/1_samuel/28.htm
1 Samuel 15:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/1_samuel/15.htm
Job 7:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/job/7.htm
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Hades:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hades-Greek-mythology
Luke 16:
-NASB:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/luke/16.htm
-KJV:
https://biblehub.com/kjv/luke/16.htm
2 Peter 2:
-NASB:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/2_peter/2.htm
-BLB:
https://biblehub.com/blb/2_peter/2.htm
-Interlinear:
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/2_peter/2-4.htm
Bible Hub. Strong’s Hebrew: 5020. tartaroo:
https://biblehub.com/greek/5020.htm
Was Jesus Christ Real?
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2019/07/jesus-christ-wasis-real.html
Matthew 5:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/matthew/5.htm
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Gehenna:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gehenna
Jeremiah 32:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/jeremiah/32.htm
The Demonic Deity Unveiled:
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2022/10/was-yhwh-yahwehjehovah-angel.html
Schumacher (2002; in Marinatos and Hagg, 2002) (P. 59):
https://books.google.com/books?id=Xp-HAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA59&dq=Hades+cave+greek&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiYiJmO0cqOAxW-MlkFHUB1OhcQ6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=Hades%20cave%20greek&f=false
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Orpheus:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Orpheus-Greek-mythology
3.) Conclusions:
Heaven and Hell are not the afterlife. They're not a place above space either. Heaven is the Earth's sky/atmosphere or space, and its multiple levels are the sun, moon, and the planets represented by the symbols of the zodiac and archangels. Heaven is also a god in both the Jewish and Greek religions. Christian Heaven acts like the Greek Heaven, Elysium. However, Elysium is located in Hades. Speaking of Hades, that is the proper name of Hell. Sh'ul/Hades is the afterlife in the Tanakh/Old Testament and Greek religion. Everybody goes there when they die, both the good and the bad. This changed in the Christian religion, where good people go to the sky/space and the bad go to the underworld. The Christian Hades matches the Greek Hades, where evil people are judged and tortured. They can also be tortured in Tartarus as well, which is a second level of the Greek afterlife and is also in the New Testament. Ben hinnom/Gehenna is translated as Hell, but it's not the afterlife. It's a literal place near Jerusalem, and served as a metaphor for hellfire. Hades is a physical place on Earth, and physical people can enter and leave it. I believe this is based on a possible ancient belief that, since we bury our dead into the ground, the afterlife was thought to have been underground. Later on, Christianity changed this slightly: The good go to the sky/space while the bad go underground.
Does Heaven exist? The Heaven that we usually think of does not exist. Does Hades exists? No. We know what is under the Earth, and there isn't a bunch of spirits being tortured or waiting to be judged. What's really under the Earth is magma, and the Earth's cores.
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